The Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP) is a multi-sectoral partnership involving 60 local organizations working on a shared vision and common priorities designed to build local capacity to attract, settle, and integrate immigrants in five sectors: settlement and orientation;  economic integration;  health and wellbeing; language training and interpretation; and  socio-civic integration.

OLIP runs Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW) each year. This is a week of events that enable participants – newcomers and long-term residents alike – to express themselves and to connect through fun and engaging experiences that can produce lasting impressions and relationships. WOW is a time when Ottawa residents can convey their genuine welcome to newcomers.

On June 23rd Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson opened Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW) at City Hall for the second year in a row. WOW is an initiative of the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership (OLIP) was founded in October 2009 by the City of Ottawa and Local Agencies Serving Immigrants (LASI). The partnership is funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada with the mandate of improving local capacity to attract, settle and integrate immigrants. Events during the week range from academic lectures about migration to restaurant walking tours in Chinatown. The week ends on Saturday, June 28th with the Community Cup, a city-wide soccer tournament at Brewer Park.

Is Ottawa a truly welcoming city?” This question is top-of-mind in the run up to Welcoming Ottawa Week (WOW) 2014.

Ottawa does a fairly good job – perhaps, as good a job as most other Canadian cities – but, clearly, more can be done. Evidence suggests Canada’s capital city is not attracting as many immigrants as other Canadian cities.